The present invention relates to laundry products. More particularly, the present invention relates to compositions for laundry use and laundry sheets containing these compositions.
Laundry detergents are commonly dispensed into washing machines by measuring various amounts of liquid or powder detergents into cups or other measuring devices. This is inconvenient and wastes the consumer's time to have to measure out the correct amount of detergent for each load of laundry. Furthermore, when such liquid or powder detergents are measured out into cups or other measuring devices, there exists a common problem of spillage of detergents around the washing machine.
One attempt to overcome the disadvantages of measuring out detergents includes the use of a detergent pouch which is held together with a water soluble adhesive. In theory, the pouch is supposed to become unglued in the wash water and release detergent chemicals into the washing machine. However, the detergent chemicals in the pouch sometimes form clumps which do not break or solubilize to release detergent into the wash water. Also, residual detergent chemicals may remain on the clothes if the detergent in the pouch forms insoluble clumps.
Another attempt in overcoming the problems of measuring detergents from containers has been the use of tablets containing laundry detergent. These tablets have the drawback of limited solubility in the wash water due to the low surface area for solubilization.
Several attempts have also been made to develop acceptable laundry products having the detergent composition impregnated onto a soluble or insoluble fabric sheet. These laundry products desirably are dry to the touch, or in other words, have a "dry hand." At the same time, however, these products should have sufficient detergency, antistatic, and fabric softening properties, while also having a structure and composition simple enough to allow for simple and efficient production of the laundry product.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,946 discloses a laundry article having a water soluble surface active agent, a quaternary ammonium fabric conditioning compound, and a dispersion inhibitor, wherein these components are carried on a water insoluble substrate. However, the quaternary ammonium fabric conditioning compounds used in the '946 patent may undesirably react with other components typically used in detergent compositions, may produce an inferior product, and may require complicated production methods.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,854 broadly discloses conditioning agents containing amine-anionic ion pair complexes. These complexes do not have ethoxylated groups attached to the nitrogen atom. Additionally, there is no particular advantage disclosed regarding application of these complexes to substrates, particularly single sheet substrates having no binder or adhesive.
Accordingly, there is a need for an antistatic or fabric softening composition that will overcome problems previously encountered. In particular, a need exists for an antistatic or fabric softening composition that can be applied to a substrate and/or combined with detergent components to produce products having acceptable detergency properties, antistatic properties, and fabric softening properties. There is also a need for laundry sheet products that are relatively simple to manufacture and have a dry hand.